~> Tupac Amaru Shakur was born, Lesane Parish Crooks, June 16, 1971 in Brooklyn, NY, to Afeni Shakur a member of the Black Panther party. Afeni Shakur was pregnant with Tupac while in jail, and on trial as one of the infamous of New York 21, this was a time where all of the members of the party were accused of conspiracy to bomb public places. Afeni Shakur was eventually aquitted of all charges.
~> While still a small child, his mother changed his name to Tupac Amaru after an Inca Indian revolutionary, "Tupac Amaru", meaning "Shining Serpent". "Shakur" means "Thankful To God" in Arabic.
~> Tupac described his mom as a strong willed woman who handled her business. Tupac's real father, however, was unknown. As a youth he identified with a pimp and petter hustler named Legs, who later died from a crack induced heart attack.
~> From childhood, everyone called him the "Black Prince." Formisbehaving, he had to read an entire edition of The New York Times.
~> The first years of his life Tupacıs family moved a between the Bronx and Harlem and at times they lived in shelters.
~> Tupac was always described as an energetic child who always liked to imagine himself in the lead role. His mom saw fit to enrole him at the age of 12, in the 187th ensamble which was the theatre group in Harlem, Ny. His first acting role was the character "Travis" in the play "Raisin in the Sun".
~> Tupac did not involve himself in rap until he and his family moved to Baltimore, MD, where he took on the name "MC New York", where Tupac auditioned and attended The Baltimore School for the Performing Arts. At this school, Tupac left a lasting impression on his teachers and was showing tremendous potential.
~> Unfortunately, Tupac had to quit the school in Baltimore and move along with his family to Marin City, CA, in the San Francisco Bay Area, of June, 1988. In Marin City Tupac learned about "street life". To fit in and be accepted with his peers, Tupac became a petty hustler who sold drugs.
~> In September the same year Tupacıs stepfather, Mutulu Shakur is sentenced to 60 years in prison for his involvement in a 1981 armored-car robbery.
~> While in Marin City Tupac rediscovered rap, joining the group "Strictly Dope". As member of "Strictly Dope" Tupac branched out and became friends with "Digital Underground" lead rapper "Shock G". In 1990 Tupac started his way up the top of todayıs rap music, by auditioning and later joining "Digital Underground" first as a roady and later as a dancer. He went on to be a hype man for the group and became known as "The Rebel of the Underground". On January 3, 1991, Tupac made his recording debut on Digital Undergroundıs "This is an EP Release".
~> In 1991, Tupac got his first real taste of trouble when he was stopped for jaywalking in Oakland. According to Tupac, the police officers didnt take a liking to Tupac's name, so they said some unfavorable things. Tupac responded and the result was him being arrested and brutalized. Tupac filed a $10 million lawsuit against the city of Oakland.
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~> On November 12, 1991, Tupacıs first solo album, 2Pacalypse Now, is released, from which he took the successful singles "Trapped" and "Brendaıs Got A Baby", which launched his career like a rocket. He also appeared as a member of Digital Underground on the track "Same Song" from "This is an EP Release" and on the album "Sons of the P".
~> Songs like "Trapped", while politically on point, stirred up much of the contraversy, when it deplicted an Oakland police officer getting shot, at the end of the video.
~> Vice President Dan Quayle denounces 2Pacalypse Now by saying that it "has no place in our society".
~> While he maintained a thug image, Tupac was a man of contridictions, recording sentimental raps in support of black woman, including "Brenda's Got A Baby", and "Keep Ya Head Up". "Because I was raised by a woman half my life, then thrown out onto the streets, its like I've got the womans side, thewn I've got the real rough, manly values that were forced onto me."-Tupac Shakur
~> His stunning talent also got him a role in the motion picture,the violent drama "Juice".
~> On January 17, 1992 he made his big screen debut in the Earnest Dickerson film "Juice", earning praise for his portrayal of Bishop, "Bishop", a violent, insecure, short-tempered individual, and is probably best remembered for the line "I am crazy. And donıt give a fuck!" Which left many wondering if Tupac was acting or just being himself.
~> As Tupac's popularity began to soar so did his troubles. On August 22, 1992, Tupac had an altercation with some old acquaintances in Marin City, which results in the death of a 6-year-old bystander and the arrest of Tupacıs half brother, Maurice Harding, who rapped for "Toni Toni Toni" and later "Thug Life". Eventually the charges were dropped and he was released due to lack of evidence.
~> Tupac later found himself embroiled in more controversey when Ronald Ray Howard, 19, shoots a Texas trooper and Howardıs attorney claims that Howard was incited by 2Pacalypse Now, which was in his tapedeck, to kill. The widow of the Texas trooper filed a multi-million dollar civil-suit against Tupac, claiming it was his music and lyrics that influenced the youngster to kill.
~> Later that year, Tupac got into an fight with a limo driver in Hollywood, at the set of "In Living Color". Tupac was arrested and charged with assault but the charges were later dropped.
~> Wherever Tupac went trouble followed. Tupac and a group of friends were arrested and charged with beating up the film directors known as the Hughes brothers. Tupac was sentenced to 15 days in prison. This altercation stemed from Tupac being fired from the movie "Menace II Society".
~> In February, 1993, Tupac released his second album, Strictly 4 My N.I.G.G.A.Z, which was an even bigger success than his first, and eventually sold platinum.
~> The highlight of Tupac's acting career came when he appeared in John Singleton's, "Poetic Justice" besides Janet Jackson. The role made Tupac a household name and showed the world that music may not be Tupac's only talent.
~> What followed was a tour of courthouses and jailcells for Tupac such as 10 days in prison for assauting a rapper with a baseball bat. On October 31, 1993, Tupac got arrested again, this time for allegedly shooting 2 off-duty Atlanta police officers who were harassing a black motorist, but the charges were eventually dropped.
~> On November 18, 1993, Tupac's rising career was snagged, when he was brought up on sexual assault charges by a 19-year old woman he met at a nightclub.
~> Tupac appears in the movie "Above the Rim", where he played a troubled drug dealer. The soundtrack, which featured the song "Pour Out a Little Liquor", recorded by Tupacıs group, Thug Life, sold 2 million copies.
~> On September 7, 1994, 2 Milwaukee teens murdered a police officer and citeded Tupacıs "Souljahıs Story" as their inspiration.
~> On November 30, 1994, Tupac was shot 5 times and robbed of jewels for about $40,000 in the lobby of Times Square recording studio.
~> The attack was classed as robbery, however later Tupac accused East-coast rappers including Sean "Puffy" Combs and The Notorious B-I-G of setting him up. It was these accusations that heated the supposed "East and West coast" rivalry within hip-hop.
~> Tupac checked himself out of the hospital less than 3 hours after surgery, the case still remains unsolved.
~> All this happened while he was on trial for sex and weapon charges, just hours before he was found guilty. The day after he was acquitted of sodomy and weapons charges but was found guilty of sexual abuse.
~> Tupacıs third album, Me against the World, debuted at No.1 on Billboardıs pop chart and fueled by the single "Dear Mama", dedicated to Tupac's mother. The album went double platinum in 7 months.
~> On February 14, 1995, Tupac was sentenced up to 4 and a half years immediately began serving his time in New Yorkıs Rikers Island penitentiary.
~> In October 1995, after serving a little over 7 months in jail, Death Row Recordıs CEO and producer, Marion "Suge" Knight posted $1.3 million in bail to get Tupac out of jail, and also signed Tupac to Death Row. Tupac began recording his fourth solo album, "All Eyez On Me".
~> After his release, Tupac answered his critics by releasing his Death Row debute, "All Eyez on Me", which has currently sold more than 6 million copies, and featured other Death Row memebers Snoop "Doggy" Dogg, and Dr Dre.
~> Ironically, Tupac found himself embroiled once again in more controversey and was arrested twice for parol violations.
~> On March 29, 1996, Death Row employees and Bad Boy employees face off at the Soul Train awards in Los Angeles, words were exchanged and a gun was pulled.
~> On April 25, 1996, "All Eyez On Me" went quintuple platinum.
~> In May 1996, Tupac and Snoop released "2 of Americaz Most Wanted", in the video, caricatures of Biggie and Puffy were punished for setting up Tupac.
~> On June 4, 1996, Death Row released Tupacıs "Hit Em Up", which was a brutal diatribe against Biggie, Bad Boy, Mobb Deep, and others.
~> On September 4, 1996, Tupac returned to New York for the MTV Music Video Awards and got into a scuffle.
~> While becoming Death Row's most valuable rapper, Tupac also completed work on two more films,"Gridlock" and "Bullet".
~> On September 7, 1996, Tupac and Suge Knight attended the Mike Tyson-Bruce Sheldon fight in Las Vegas. Tupac and Suge left the fight in Sugeıs car. A white Cadillac with four people inside pulled alongside at an intersection, one person got out and opened fire. Tupac was hit 4 times while Suge escaped with minor injuries. Tupac was brought to the University Medical Center.
~> On Friday, September 13, 1996, Tupac died after 6 days in critical condition. Tupac Shakur was pronounced dead at 4.03 pm, his body was later cremated. He was Only 25 !!!
~> Tupac Amaru Shakur, also known as 2pac, was one of the greatest and most well-known gangta-rap artists before the shooting in Las Vegas in September 1996, which ended his life; and in many ways too short life, he was only 25 and had the most of his life in front of him.
~> How many of us who loved and respected 2pac, the music and the man behind it, isnıt wondering how it would be if he would still be alive and able to do all the things that he did so well?
~> I donıt think that there will ever another rap artist who will earn or receive the same respect as 2pac did...
